Amnesty row: Congress playing with national security, alleges BJP

Bengaluru, Aug 21 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday alleged that the Congress was playing with the country's national security and said Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara's clean chit to Amnesty International makes it obvious that he is working on the orders of his party's high command. BJP leader S. Prakash said Parameshwara has given a clean chit to Amnesty International in the anti-India sloganeering controversy as per the diktat of the Congress central leadership. "After a long deliberation, they (Bengaluru Police) decided to file a case on sedition charges. The Home Ministry I believe comes under G. Parameshwara. It is his department, which has filed the case. Now, he has given the clean chit even before the report is submitted. It is very clear that he is acting under the pressure of the high command," Prakash told ANI here. Demanding that an impartial investigation must be done into the matter, the BJP leader expressed his disappointment that clean chit has been given to Amnesty International even before the report was submitted. "As far I am concerned, the investigation is over because the Home Minister has himself given a clean chit and no police officer will indict the Amnesty (International) anymore. It is a serious issue, you would have allowed the investigation to go on," he added. The Karnataka Home Minister yesterday said Amnesty India has never involved itself in any kind of anti-national activities. "Amnesty International is not new to Bengaluru. This organisation has been functioning here for a long time. I don't know nor I have heard in the past about it or anyone from it involving in any anti-national activities," Parameshwara said. "They had organised a programme about the Army's excesses in Kashmir. They had called a few families (from Kashmir) to console them and give them some sort of mental support, in which certain incidents took place about which an FIR has been registered," he added. The clean chit from the Home Minister came even as the organisation faces sedition charges over an event where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised. The Amnesty International had earlier on August 13 organised an event as part of a campaign to seek justice for "victims of human rights violations" in Jammu and Kashmir that took an ugly turn with heated exchanges and alleged raising anti-India slogans. Mounting pressure on the government post the incident, the BJP activists staged protests on the streets demanding that a case of sedition be registered against Amnesty International. The Karnataka Police filed an FIR under Section 124 (a) of the IPC amounting to sedition against the NGO on August 15. The case was registered at the J.C. Nagar police station. (ANI)